Washing-machine



(No Model.)

E. G. MINNEMEYER.

WASHING MAGHINE.

Patented Sept. 12,1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD G. MINNEMEYER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 504,989, dated September 12, 1893.

Application filed June 22,1891- To 010% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD GUsrAvus MINNEMEYER, of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in washing machines which are i tended to make the machines cheaper and simpler than those heretofore used, and to provide several important and advantageous fe tures of operation.

More particul fiy my invention relates to that class of washi machines in which each is provided with a stirring device having both a rotary reciprocating motion and a vertical motion and operated by a suitable actuating mechanism mounted on a tub or vessel; and one of the objects of my invention is to provide superior mechanism for accomplishing these movements of the stirrer or agitator.

That my invention may be morefully understood, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a washing machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing that part of the mechanism which is situated above the lid of the vessel and secured thereto. Fig. 3 is a detail view of some of the parts. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the device used in raising and depressing the stirring device. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the horizontal bevel wheel, and the parts connected therewith, and showing the stirrer rod in elevation.

In the drawings, M represents the tub or vessel to which the machine is applied.

0 represents the stirring device provided with the radiating arms a a a and having the depending fingers t' t' 11 11 i which latter'are intended to reach near to the bottom of thetub and may if desired be constructed so as to rest upon the tubs bottom.

S is a square bar passing through a square perforation or opening in the collar portion of the stirrer O and having a smooth tap or nut upon its lower extremity to prevent its being drawn upward through said collar.

Serial No. 397,031. (No model.)

The said bar S extends upward and is carried in a square opening in the pinion wheel T. It is circular in cross section at its upper extremity and is journaled in a perforation in the extension 25 of the rack G and is secured in position by means of the pin or tap .5, thus forming the support for the stirrer 0. But as the bar S passes loosely through the opening in the stirrer, it allows the latter to be raised or lowered independently of it.

A is a cog wheel which engages with and operates the pinion T. It is provided with a lever or handle N for the purpose of imparting rotary reciprocating motion. The wheel rotates on an axle m (in this case a bolt) mounted in the two frames or standards Y Y, which are bolted or otherwise secured to the lid M hinged at m to the tub M, the standard Y having a vertical slot, the walls of which serve as guides for the rollers of rack G. As the said standard Y has a laterally projecting flange R with a circular perforation, in which the upwardly projecting hub of the pinion T is journaled, the downwardly projecting hub of the said pinion is journaled in a casting a which has an annular ring it for the purpose.

The rack G is provided with the anti-friction rollers n, and as it is connected with the bar S as described, it imparts to the latter vertical motion for raising and lowering the stirrer 0. The anti-friction rolls n n of the rack G are grooved to fit over the edges of the side pieces of the edges of the slot in the frame work Y to facilitate the operation of the raising and lowering of the rack. The rack G also carries outside of its frame work upon a suitable journal, the roller e which is designed to intermittingly contact with the cam B on the cog wheel A, the cam being fixed rigidly upon the wheel and extending from the center toward the cogs in the form of an arc.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that by raising and depressing the arm or lever N of the cog wheel A, a rotary reciprocating motion is imparted to it and as it meshes with the pinion wheel'T it imparts a similar motion thereto, which is conveyed, in turn, to the square bar S and the stirrer O, and thus I00 the operation of stirring is performed. The rotary motion, only, will be imparted when the cam B is out of contact with the roller e; but when the lever N and wheel A have been turned over to the position opposite that shown, the outer edge of the cam contacts with the roller e and as it is depressed the roller travels upon the cam from its outer end to the center wheel or near thereto. This operation lifts the stirrer S from the clothes as the rack G is borne upward through the slot and when the arm N is raised the stirrer comes down and presses the clothes in aplace different from the one at which it left them before being raised. By this construction and operation I am enabled more fully to remove the dirt from the clothes and to grasp them between the stirrer and the bottom of the tub at different places.

1) represents a coiled spring surrounding the bar S and a portion of the collar of the stirrer C. It bears upon a shoulder provided on the collar and is adapted to press the stirrer downward in order to hold it in contact with the clothes. But the stirrer can move up and down on the bar S against the spring. The opening in the collar of the stirrer C may be made to flare slightly outward at its extremities to permit a rocking motion of the stirrer whereby it can accommodate itself in position to avoid the breakage or damage that would result if it were held in line rigidly. I have found by experiment that this construction (of the cam B rigidly attached to the cog wheel A, the rack G with its roller e contacting with cam 13 and having anti-friction rollers n 'n, and the connecting parts) allows for the automatic raising and lowering of the stirrer and the parts thereto attached without friction, and is very effective for the purpose for which said parts are designed.

The machine, it will be seen, is simple in construction, and can be made at small cost. Moreover, the automatic raising is perfectly smooth in its operation and unaccompanied with sudden jars, friction or draft, since the raising is accomplished by means of a cam which is so formed as to counteract any of the disadvantages made by gradually raising the stirrer instead of suddenly performing this office.

The rack G,it will be seen performs, primarily, the office of the connecting part be tween the vertically reciprocating stirrer shaft and the lifting cam, and the said stirrer shaft S and the rack G, together, serve as a carrier for the rubber, both for conveying the lifting movement from the cam on the wheelA to the rubber, and also for imparting rotary movements to it. The guide Way on the stationary frame serves to prevent the rotation horizontally of this rack G, and the pivotal connection between the rack and the stirrer shaft permits the latter to be easily turned in either direction by the gearing without any interference from the rack, although the latter is held so' that it can move rectilineally only. Thus there is-provided an easily and smoothly moving connection between the lifting cam and the agitator.

The present construction I have been led to as a result of experience with the machine shown in my Patent No. 456,222, dated July 21, 1891, reissued April 4, 1893, No. 11,320. In said earlier machineI employed substantially the same features of construction and relation with respect to the rubber, its holder or carrier and the spring, but employed a different form of intermitting lifting device, to wit, a rack and segment gear. I have found that under some circumstances there is a possibility for the teeth of the rack and segment in such a construction to interfere with each other, a perfect mesh not being at all times assured. The gear teeth are necessarily small comparatively, and liable to breakage, especially as the engagement between the rack and the segment is more or less sudden. Again, there is possibility for the rubber to not' descend to the proper point to provide an accurate meshing of the wheel teeth with the rack, but to stop at such point as to cause an interference; but the cam and its engaging projections herein provided avoid all possibility of trouble of this sort.

What I claim .is

1. In a washing machine of the class described, the combination of a vertically placed segmental gear having fixed thereto an areshaped cam extending from its outer edge to or near its hub with a vertically adjustable stirrer or rubber-block with a collar provided with an angular central opening, an angular bar passing through the collar and carrying a pinion wheel and connecting with a projection from a rack carried in a vertical slot in a frame-work, the pinion wheel meshing with the segmental gear, and the cam on the cog wheel contacting with a roller carried on the rack Without theframe, asuitable spiral spring carried around the square bar and bearing upon a shoulder on the collar of the rubberblock, all substantially as described.

2. In a washing machine of the class described, the combination of the cam B fixed upon the cog wheel A and contacting with the roller 6 in the rack G, the rack G provided with anti-friction rollers n it within the frame work, and the rollere without the frame work, the rack working in a slot in the standard frame Y and connecting with the stirrer by means of the square bar S, all substantially as described.

3. In a Washing machine of the character described, the combination of a rubber which intermittingly rises and falls and intermittingly reciprocates in horizontal planes, a carrier imparting rotary reciprocating horizontal movements to the rubber and rising and falling relatively to the contents of the tub, the vertically stationary gear wheel and intermittingly acting devices for positively lifting said carrier away from the contents of said tub, said intermittingly acting devices comprising a vertical gear wheel with a cam and a horizontally arranged projection extending laterally from the rubber-carrier into the path of the said cam on the wheel, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD G. MINNEMEYER.

Witnesses:

W. V. TEFFT, R. N. MCCORMICK. 

